Two low-magnitude earthquakes hit the sparsely populated Mongolian-Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Haixi (Tibetan: Tsonub) in Qinghai Province early in the morning of Jun 9, causing no injuries or damages. The Amdo Station in Amdo County of Tibet Autonomous Region, the nearest railway station to the quake area, did not suffer any disruption of service, reported China’s official Xinhua news Agency Jun 9.

The first earthquake of 5.0-magnitude occurred at 1:56 am and was followed by a 4.0-magnitute earthquake at the same area at 5:44 am. The epicentre was at 33.2 degrees north latitude and 92.2 degrees east longitude in the Tanggula Mountain Range town in Golmud City.

Since then, there were 225 tremors of more than 1.0 on the Richter scale – four of them above 5.0 – as of 2 pm Jun 11, reported Xinhua Jun 11. It said that while the Tanggula sections of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway and Highway were not affected, at one location, Yanshiping, cracks were reported to have opened up on a few houses, with no reports of casualties.

The Tanggula range had 74 quakes measuring more than 5.0 since 1970, with the most powerful, measuring 6.8, in 1988, the report said.